Nintendo Classic Edition (NES Mini): First Look!

Video Transcript Below

Hey guys, Dan here from CLE Tech and today we’re going to take a look at the new, well sorta new, Nintendo NES Classic Edition.

The NES Classic or NES Mini, however you’d like to refer to it, is a refresh of the ever so popular, and most likely one of your first gaming consoles, the original NES. You know, the big gray box that required you to blow into the back of the cartridges and then give the top of the console a big whack in order to get it to work? Ahh the good old days.

Anyways, Nintendo decided to take advantage of nostalgia and created this guy. The NES Mini. It’s exactly like what it sounds. A MUCH smaller version of the original NES but this time, you don’t have to fuss with any cartridges. Instead, Nintendo decided to pre load 30 classic games like Super Mario Brothers 1 through 3, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and my personal favorites, Excitebike and Tecmo Bowl.

So aside from this mini console, you also get one controller, and your assortment of power adaptors and cables like an HDMI cable because, thankfully, that's how this guy connects to your TV. One thing to note, you do only get one controller and additional controllers are $10 but you should also get extension cables for the controllers because these guys are super short and you will have to play games a foot from the TV. Which is how I used to play when I was a kid so I suppose they are really hitting home in the nostalgia department.

Obviously, there is not much to talk about as far as design goes except for the new I/O ports and the overall size. Compared to the original NES, you'll obviously notice the mini aspect but as far as everything else goes, it looks just like how you remembered it. You can even open up the cartridge door if you want the full effect.

As far as the UI goes, Nintendo did everything they could to make sure you were living in the 90’s with the navigation menu using classic icons to depict each game. If you want to play a new game, you even have to hit the reset button in order to get the menu. Just like the good old days.

If you really want to go even further back, you can change the display mode from 4:3 aspect ratio, an artificial CRT mode, to give you that wavy bar display look of an old school TV, or you can play in pixel perfect mode, which gives you the best looking version of each of these games.

Honestly, for $59 dollars, there is a reason why it will be impossible to find one of these guys in stores for the next few weeks. It’s a blast in the past and it’s all the same games you remembered as a kid! If you can find one in stores and want to go back to the good old days, it’s definitely worth the money.

Let me know in the comments section what you guys think of the new NES Mini and hit that like button if you liked this video! Thanks for watching guys, and I will see you in the next one!